Ex Port O'Brien member Van Pierszalowski's solo effort. It's a solid debut, some call it the underdog record of the year, but his smooth blend of White Stripes/Morning Benders style grooves gets him major kudos.

Getting the short end of the stick at Bonnaroo is not easy. Playing right as Arcade Fire is beginning is even worse. But someone JEFF did it, and kept a sizable audience who cheered and even moshed for a good 40 minutes. It was intense. It was blissful.

Continuing with duos, BDoD gets a bad rep for being too similar to the barrage of other garage rock duos to come out in the last 10 years (Black Keys, No Age, Japandroids...) but that's not to take away from the fact that GB City has some great tunes worth checking out like "Get Found."

Folk rock with a twist, he's leaning more towards a more stripped down sound that it's very pleasing to my ears. I can't quite put my finger on it, but Bondy's got it, and he does it well. "Surfer King" is the song of the album.

Sorry, but Allison Mosshart needs some recognition here. After working with Jack White, she can go back to doing the Kills and drop what is in my opinion their best album. "Future Starts Slow" and "Satellite" just make this album for me.

If you're a fan of Sonic Youth, this is the album to get this year. Yuck have done their best to bring 90s indie rock to the light again, combining their influences of Archers of Loaf and Pavement, but somehow Sonic Youth didn't really get their due. TS give it to them, via opener "Psychic Mesa."

To go from the rickety debut to this is not hard, but it was a smooth transition and Endless Now seems more enjoyable after hearing "Nothing Hurts" and seeing how carefree the band made it. I wouldn't say either one is better than the other, they're both great. But MB gets lumped in with that so-so lo-fi crowd. It's unjustified, this is a solid follow up.

2010 saw me really push for this band, and their compilation album last year and the EP Leave You Forever was great... this was not as great, but it was still a great album to show the progression of the band. I'm a big fan of garage rock and lo-fi (could you tell?) and their live shows are very energetic. I think the lead singer looks like Fogel tho. Sounds like him too.

Supergroup if you will, but the first single was a combination of all the types of music I like these days, and the only taste of Modest Mouse we'll probably have for awhile. "Bronx Sniper" is the highlight of the album, but kudos need to go to everyone involved for trying to make a dynamic combination of popular trends and not have it sound like total shit.